by Cori Bonnell

Timur’s scholarly grandson, Ulugh Beg, was more interested in the stars above then following in his grandfathers footsteps in the battlefields below. His life’s ambition was to make his city of Samarkand the center of Islamic education and did this by inviting many other scholars to teach, study and conduct research inside the Registan.

Kazu-Zade Rumi, a Turkish mathematician and astronomer, was one of the most famous. He researched and calculated the stars alongside Ulugh Beg, and helped develop a more accurate catalogue of the stars above them. He now lays to under two Cupolas and the stars here in Samarkand.